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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27411229">Destiny's Twist</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SepticAbzies/pseuds/SepticAbzies'>SepticAbzies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>One-Shot Roleswaps [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Also many other roleswaps, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Kairi is the glue that holds everyone together, Kairi needs a hug, More in the sense that Kairi becomes the main character, Riku's Still Riku, RokuNami Roleswap, Sokai Roleswap, Xion has a different role than in canon, Yozora/Nameless Star Roleswap, not completely</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:26:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,910</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27411229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SepticAbzies/pseuds/SepticAbzies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the Keyblade transfers to Kairi after Sora sacrifices himself and Kairi doesn't get the chance to restore Sora to his human form. AU stemming from KH1</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kairi &amp; Naminé (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé &amp; Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas &amp; Sora (Kingdom Hearts), small mentions of other ships</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>One-Shot Roleswaps [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Destiny's Twist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to a brand new story of mine. It's been in my brain for a long time. This will be very long, by the way.</p><p>Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts series, nor do I own the Disney or Final Fantasy characters that may appear. Also, some of the ideas used don't really belong to me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kairi doesn't realize what's happening until Sora is one second away from plunging the blade deep into his chest. And by the time she understands what he's trying to do, that he intends on ending his life to free her heart, she's too late to stop him.</p><p>Now, she's standing where Sora fell, watching the last shards of light float into the sky, hearing Donald yell at Sora to come back.</p><p>And just like that, Sora is gone.</p><p>Riku manages to break through his possession long enough to hold back Ansem, giving Kairi the chance to escape with Donald and Goofy. Kairi wants to cry all the way down the stairs.</p><p>On their way out, they're halted by a horde of Heartless that the Beast tries his best to hold back, but they're trapped. Kairi starts to panic, because all this darkness is devastating, suffocating, and it reminds her of a faded memory that she's glad to not remember.</p><p>But she has to stay strong. She can't fall here. The Beast is the only ally they have, and him staying behind for Belle reminds her of Sora.</p><p>He may be gone, but he sacrificed himself to save <em>her</em>. She has to make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain.</p><p>And then a light shines through all the darkness to save them and suddenly the Kingdom Key is in her hands.</p><p>She's obviously an amateur, and it shows, but with Donald and Goofy's help, the trio is able to defeat the Heartless long enough to create a hole to escape. The Beast covers them as they reach the Gummi Ship, but he stays behind. He can't leave Belle.</p><p>Kairi is grateful for the reprieve as well as Leon and company's offer to help train her for the inevitable fight with Ansem, but she can't help but feel a lingering sense of resentment.</p><p>Like she left something behind...</p><hr/><p>The fight with Ansem is long and arduous, mostly because she's still not as much of an expert as Sora is...<em>was...</em></p><p>It's hard to think of Sora as gone, forever. It's been at least two weeks since that fateful day. And she's still not over it.</p><p>Anyways, Donald and Goofy are with her, and they make the fight much less fatal. She manages to avoid many close calls thanks to them.</p><p>But the MVP of the fight is Kingdom Hearts itself. The doors open and engulfs Ansem and Kairi in light. While Ansem is paralized, Kairi suddenly feels the light within her burn brightly in pure rage.</p><p>All she can think about is Sora's sacrifice and Riku's fall to darkness, the unfairness of it all. The three were supposed to explore all the worlds <em>together</em>. How did this happen? How could Ansem just rip them apart like this? She lost both of her families, the one in Hollow Bastion from birth, and the one on Destiny Islands that she found.</p><p>She's never felt such hatred for anybody in her entire life.</p><p>Donald and Goofy manage to bring her back to reality, and they tell her what happened when she confesses that she (honestly) doesn't remember. They tell her that she was suddenly engulfed in light and had turned into a humanoid made out of nothing but pure light, with glowing red eyes. They couldn't stop her, because she was too focused on Ansem.</p><p>In this form, Kairi had scratched at Ansem until he literally exploded in light shards, like Sora, light shining from within his body through the scratch marks she had given him.</p><p>(The trio later decide to dub this side of her as 'Holy Form'.)</p><p>After the fight, the trio quickly run to the doors of Kingdom Hearts, which are still open, and struggle to close them. They are heavy, but they have help, fortunately.</p><p>Unfortunately, however, it's Riku, helping them close the door from the other side, planning on sacrificing himself the same way Sora did. Kairi's glad that King Mickey is with him, so he won't be alone, but it's still hard.</p><p>Riku sees the tears forming in her indigo eyes, and he calmly tells her, "Don't worry, Kairi. Everything's gonna be okay."</p><p>The tears sting her eyes as she lets Riku close the door from within, as she locks the door with the Keyblade.</p><p>She feels so alone now, and she falls to her knees, sobbing as the worlds and their barriers are restored.</p><p>Donald and Goofy let her mourn the lost of her friends, her <em>family</em>, before suggesting that there might be another way into the Realm of Darkness, where Riku and King Mickey are. That maybe Sora can't be saved, but Riku and King Mickey can. Their words help cheer her up.</p><p>With that, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy are off on another adventure, and Kairi doesn't feel as alone anymore.</p><p>Even though she feels like a piece of her is missing...</p><hr/><p>There's a boy who sits in Castle Oblivion, all alone, drawing in his sketchbook in order to manipulate the memories of the red-haired girl named Kairi, who has just entered the castle with two companions.</p><p>He's quiet, reserved, loves drawing, wears black-and-white clothing, and his hair is a strange yet intriguing mix of blonde and brunette. He's a special Nobody, able to manipulate the memories of a boy named Sora and anybody connected to him, a connection that is incredibly vast (though Naminé, a Nobody of pure light supposedly, is more special than he is).</p><p>He is Kairi's last remaining friend that she wants to save and protect because she has no one else. Or so her false memories say. He feels guilty about giving her fake memories, but this is the only way he can avoid Marluxia and Larxene's abuse.</p><p>Besides, when this is all over, maybe the two can be friends for real.</p><p>A small little Shadow Heartless wanders through the halls, having lost Kairi a while ago, before finding a more familiar light within this boy. The Shadow doesn't speak, but the boy seems to know what it's saying anyways.</p><p>"Hi there," the boy says. "What's your name?"</p><p>The Shadow doesn't remember his name. Kairi, the light that he was following since his creation, had disappeared soon after she entered this place, leading him further and further into darkness and oblivion. </p><p>(But, for some reason, he thinks of the sky.)</p><p>The boy smiles, seemingly understanding him. "You don't remember your name, huh? What about your past? Where'd you come from?"</p><p>The Shadow doesn't know that either. His mind is completely blank. He's just here because this boy is strangely familiar to him.</p><p>"I can't remember my past, either," the boy admits. He's quiet before admitting, "I know you have no intention to harm me. You can feel a strange connection between us, like we're meant to be together. I can feel that same connection. I suppose I could ask Axel and Naminé about that when I get back..." The boy shakes his head. "For now, let's be friends, okay?"</p><p>The Shadow doesn't have a mouth, but the boy knows it's happy because it starts dancing around.</p><p>And this is how Sora meets Roxas for the first time.</p><hr/><p>Naminé doesn't know who Kairi is, but her intrigue eventually changes to anger and jealousy as the three-hundred-fifty-eight days of her time in the Organization play out.</p><p>The first of her friends that she meets is Axel, the one who 'babysits' her during her first two weeks. Her memory is fuzzy, but she knows that she's missing a crucial piece of her, and Axel helps her get used to her new life.</p><p>She joins the Organization because they have a way for her to get that part of her, called a 'heart', back, and she's the only one who has the Keyblade, a very important factor of their plans.</p><p>She is ranked as No. XIII, the Key of Destiny.</p><p>(She's also the only one in the Organization who doesn't have an X in their name, and she wonders why.) </p><p>The second of her friends that she meets is Roxas, the one who joins the Organization literally a day after her. He is familiar to her, but she doesn't know why. He's quiet yet friendly, he loves to draw, and she loves talking to him.</p><p>But Roxas is assigned to Castle Oblivion soon after she meets him. He's gone for a while, at least thirty days. When he returns, he refuses to talk about what happened on his long-term mission that only he and Axel return from.</p><p>Interestingly enough, Roxas returns with a new friend, a Shadow Heartless that he carries everywhere on his shoulder that feels familiar, though she doesn't know why.</p><p>Surprisingly, Xemnas lets Roxas keep it, due to not carrying an Emblem (the kind of Heartless that Naminé's been assigned to specifically target). Their Superior also only expresses interest in this Shadow after Roxas reveals its name as 'Sora'.</p><p>She doesn't know who this 'Sora' is, but she can tell that he's important to Xemnas, for some reason that she doesn't know.</p><p>The Shadow also keeps its eyes on Naminé's Keyblade whenever she weilds it in its vicinity. Axel suspects that it's out of fear, but both Naminé and Roxas suspect it's because of something else. Almost as if Sora was giving the Keyblade a look of longing.</p><p>The third of her friends she meets is Xion, who joins the Organization one week after Roxas and Axel return from Castle Oblivion. She's mysterious, not showing her face until she and Naminé spend a week on missions together.</p><p>Axel has the power over fire. Roxas has the power to make anything he draws in his sketchbook literally come to life. But Xion has the exact same Keyblade as Naminé does.</p><p>Xion's Keyblade doesn't sit too well with her. She doesn't know why, but she knows that Xion feels the same way.</p><p>But they're still friends. That's all that matters.</p><p>The four have ice cream on the clock tower after every mission. Sora tags along with Roxas everywhere, the two inseparable, and when they are apart, both are too anxious for words.</p><p>Xion runs away a lot, and the reasons why are always kept a mystery to Naminé. She suspects Axel knows, but he doesn't tell her anything. It feels like anytime she tries to talk to him about Xion, about <em>anything</em>, he goes out of his way to brush her off.</p><p>She suspects that Roxas knows too, but he doesn't avoid her like Axel tends to do. He just tells her that he knows she's worried and that she's entirely justified in her concern. He admits that he knows that Xion is not like normal Nobodies, but he's just not sure <em>how</em>.</p><p>But no one tells her any clear, concrete answers. Any questions she asks are either met by silence or (what seems like) riddles. There is no in-between, and Roxas is the only one whose answers are close to what she's looking for (which isn't by much).</p><p>It's when Xion's run away for her longest time yet (more than one hundred days) that Naminé feels like everything's been torn apart. She finds Xion, twice. The first time, the black-haired girl runs away again with the imposter that's been haunting the Organization since Roxas and Axel returned from Castle Oblivion.</p><p>The next day, Roxas is the one who finds Xion. He's trying to convince her to come back, with very little luck. Naminé catches up, relieved to see that Xion is okay. She tries to back up Roxas, but Xion has different ideas.</p><p>Naminé doesn't know how she found herself with Xion's Keyblade in her face. Did she miss something?</p><p>Sora clings to the back of Roxas' hood, and Roxas hides behind her, as she trembles, trying to search her memory for where she and Xion went wrong. What's going on? Did the imposter say something to her?</p><p>She doesn't know why she feels the urge to summon her Keyblade and fight Xion right here and now. Why? They're friends. Aren't they?</p><p>She shakily says Xion's name, and Xion falters, as if suddenly realizing who she's aiming her Keyblade at, an apologetic look on her face. She opens her mouth to apologize.</p><p>But Xion's guard immediately goes back up when Axel's Chakram flies out of nowhere to attack her. And he doesn't sound too happy to see her.</p><p>Naminé and Roxas are stuck watching the other two <em>actually</em> fight each other. They're all supposed to be friends, so why are they fighting?</p><p>This angers her, and she summons her Keyblade in order to intervene and stop them, but Axel and Roxas both surprise her.</p><p>Roxas immediately grabs her hand holding the Keyblade, holding it in place, right as Axel calls out, "Don't, Naminé! Put your Keyblade away!" These two actions confirm to her that Axel and Roxas both know something about Xion that she doesn't.</p><p>Something that also involves her.</p><p>But she does as they say. They're her friends, and she trusts them, even if they're obviously hiding a secret from her. She de-summons her Keyblade, and just relents to being forced to watch Axel and Xion fight.</p><p>But she <em>can't</em> watch.</p><p>So, she cries out, "STOP!" And Xion immediately falters, as if remembering that she and Axel are not alone. But this gives him the chance to knock her out.</p><p>He catches her as her Keyblade hits the ground with clang, before slinging her over his shoulder. Roxas, still clutching Naminé's hand, tells him, "That wasn't necessary, you know."</p><p>But Axel says nothing as he leaves through a Corridor that he's created.</p><p>Despite Xemnas giving the specific order to all of them that Xion was not to be searched for, he accepts her back into the Organization. Naminé confronts him in the Round Room, searching for answers that she desperately needs.</p><p>She remembers her conversation with him in the Dark Margin, during her first week (the week she could barely remember until now), when he called her by a name that wasn't hers.</p><p>"Who is Kairi?" she asks.</p><p>He vaguely answers, "The connection."</p><p>"Connection?" she blinks. What does that mean?</p><p>Xemnas explains, "She is what makes you and Xion a part of each other's lives. And the reason I placed Xion among our number."</p><p>He then sends her back to her missions, advising her not to worry about Xion anymore. But she can't help but worry. Not just about Xion, or Roxas, or Axel anymore. This time, about everything.</p><p>Because she feels weaker and sicker now, like her strength is waning day by day, while Xion seems to only be getting stronger. This worries her, because no one else is having this problem, just her. </p><p>Axel, Roxas, and Xion try to make her feel better with a trip to the beach on their next day off, after Naminé almost falls off the clock tower in a fit of dizziness (fortunately, Roxas saves her before she can comprehend what just happened). All three of them know something she doesn't.</p><p>And she briefly wonders where this Kairi is right now. Is she at home, with her friends, having a good time, while she clearly isn't? Is she dead, with pain and suffering unable to touch her anymore?</p><p>Thinking about this causes part of Naminé to become jealous. Part of her gets angry, since everything going on between her and Xion is all Kairi's fault. She is the connection, after all.</p><p>(Only one of these feelings lingers on into the future.)</p><p>One morning, she is seen off by some of her fellow Nobodies on her solo mission for the day. They're all visibly concerned about her, since she's sick and weak and it obviously shows.</p><p>Roxas is worried, and so is Sora. Roxas asks her if she's sure she'll be able to handle this alone. She assures him that, yes, she's fine.</p><p>Axel is extremely worried, which intrigues her, since the two have hardly spoken since that day (when he and Xion were fighting).</p><p>But she goes on her mission anyway, determined to beat this Heartless by herself and be back as quickly as she left. That way, she can prove to Roxas, and Sora, and Axel, and everybody else, that yes, she is just fine.</p><p>But it doesn't pan out that way.</p><p>This Heartless ambushes her, and she doesn't have time to wonder where it came from and how it snuck up on her, because she's suddenly found fighting for her life.</p><p>It keeps her on the defensive for most of the fight, proving to her just how weak she's gotten, just how sick she is. She ultimately decides to finish this with her entire being, a suicide attack basically, as she can see no other way this can end.</p><p>She charges in for the kill, but she's stopped by Axel, in between her and the Heartless, blocking both of their attacks with his chakrams.</p><p>And suddenly, the illusion breaks apart, Xion standing where the Heartless should've been.</p><p>Axel tells both of them to stop, as Roxas quickly intervenes with a Cure spell cast on Naminé (he's gotten really good at them; his Cure spells are all at the third tier), just as she lets go of her Keyblade, which is de-summoned in a flash of light right as it hits the ground. Roxas is quick to catch Naminé herself as she collapses, too exhausted to continue.</p><p>"Naminé?" Xion stutters, de-summoning her Keyblade as well. "Wh-What are you doing here? W-Was the Heartless I was fighting...actually you?" Naminé is grateful for Xion's questions, since she herself is too tired to ask them herself.</p><p>"This mission was a setup," Axel reveals, turning to Xion with a knowing glance. Xion lowers her gaze to the ground, understanding what he's trying to remind her of. "It was rigged so you two would battle each other," Axel continues, turning to Naminé, his vagueness gone for once. "They determined the loser would be the weaker one, so they set this up to get rid of them."</p><p>Naminé feels Roxas hug her tighter, knowing that the loser probably would've been her.</p><p>"Why would they do that?" is the only question Naminé can produce enough energy to ask.</p><p>She gets no answer, and she immediately gets the feeling that they're still hiding something from her.</p><p>The sunset that day is the prettiest they've ever seen, and Naminé isn't sure why she doesn't want this sunset to end.</p><hr/><p>That night, Sora the Heartless tightly clenches the back of Roxas' black coat, tugging on it, as if that would make his friend stay. But he accidentally lets go of it and crashes to the ground.</p><p>Roxas turns around, an apologetic look on his face, "I've made up my mind, Sora. Riku's right. I made a mistake messing with Kairi's memories. So, it's time for me to clean up the mess I made. Please...let me do this."</p><p>Sora silently, yet furiously, shakes his head, before running to the door, blocking Roxas' path. Roxas notes the tears in the Shadow's eyes, before sadly smiling, "I'm sorry, Sora, but this is something I have to do, something only I can do."</p><p>He picks up the Shadow and hugs it one last time, comforting his Somebody is Heartless form.</p><p>"I'll come back for you, Sora," Roxas tells him. "I promise. After all, we are the same person."</p><hr/><p>Naminé gets her answer the next day. She sees both Xion and Roxas off on their mission with Axel and Xigbar with a sense of unease that she can't explain the reasons of. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't want either of them to go.</p><p>Later, after a long, much needed nap (even though she still feels exhausted), she walks into the Grey Area, only to see Saix and Xigbar lecturing Axel. She wanders over to better hear their conversation.</p><p>"Explain yourself, Axel," Saïx is saying.</p><p>"The old man needs to get his eye checked," Axel excuses. "They just got away."</p><p>"I'll give him that," Xigbar replies. "Can't toss the blame around."</p><p>Saïx sees Naminé walk in, "And now we're left with the one we can't use..."</p><p>"Did something happen?" she asks.</p><p>Saïx leaves without a word, as Axel turns around and looks away, clearly avoiding her eyes.</p><p>She asks Axel where Roxas and Xion are, but Xigbar is the one who answers. He tells her that Xion escaped (again), which is nothing new, but this time, she took Roxas with her. Axel says nothing, not even when Naminé asks him to elaborate.</p><p>When Xigbar leaves them alone, Naminé takes this chance to drill the redhead for answers on what happened during the mission today. Once again, his answers are vague, but this time, it infuriates her.</p><p>He claims that "nothing, really" happened, but Naminé is uncharacteristically pissed, because Xion and Roxas are both gone! That's not <em>'nothing'</em>! Axel repeats what Xigbar claimed, that he just sat there sucking his thumb as he watched Xion run away with Roxas.</p><p>Naminé tries to calm down and asks him why he just watched them run. Axel's response is surprising. "Xion is like a mirror that reflects you," he tells her as he crosses his arms over his chest.</p><p>A confused Naminé shakes her head, unable to make any sense of what Axel just said. <em>What is he talking about?</em> is a sentiment she shares aloud.</p><p>"Xion is a puppet," Axel explains, "created to duplicate your powers."</p><p>"Are you nuts?" she asks. "Xion's a person, not a puppet."</p><p>Axel cuts her off, finally giving her the answers she's been searching for (even if she doesn't like what she's hearing), "You are the rare Nobody of a Princess of Heart, Naminé, a Nobody of pure light. Xion is an experiment that Vexen created, an antithesis of Kairi, a Princess of Heart who uses darkness instead of light. She's a mirror that reflects <em>your light</em>, Naminé. And when I looked in the mirror...It wasn't you I saw."</p><p>"Xion is Xion," she protests, her heart preventing her mind from processing this correctly. "You can't expect her to be me."</p><p>"That's not what I mean," Axel sighs. "It was only a matter of time before someone broke the mirror."</p><p>Naminé starts, "You mean...they have to destroy her?" Axel looks down, not giving an answer. "Axel!" she cries, desperate for answers and support.</p><p>"Naminé, if somebody doesn't...then you won't be you anymore," Axel tells her.</p><p>"I'll always be me!" she replies. "I'm still your best friend, just Xion and Roxas are my best friends too!"</p><p>"That's not it," Axel shakes his head. "You're missing the whole point, Naminé."</p><p>"Forget this." With that, she runs away, back to her room, ignoring Axel calling out to her.</p><p>It's only the next morning that Naminé gets more answers, from Xemnas this time. The remaining Organization members were called for a meeting in the Round Room by Xemnas, a crucial meeting.</p><p>There, he reveals what Naminé already knew, having found out yesterday, that Xion has disappeared, and that Xion is a replica, a puppet.</p><p>Somehow, hearing Xemnas confirm what Axel said yesterday, is enough to make her begin the path to accepting this truth.</p><p>Xion is an experiment created by Vexen, to become an antithesis, a foil, to Kairi, a Princess of Heart, Kairi's worst qualities as a person amplified.</p><p>She knows this. And then Xemnas surprises her:</p><p>The plan was to have Xion become a being of pure darkness and then have her fight Naminé, a being of pure light, in order to create something called a X-Blade, which can only be created if two beings of light and darkness, respectively, clash under equal terms.</p><p>But due to Vexen's untimely (unplanned) demise at Castle Oblivion, the experiment was derailed, causing Xion to accept light in her heart as well, which ruined the premise of a being of pure darkness clashing with a being of pure light. Xion sapping Naminé's strength only made things worse, since it destroyed the premise of 'clashing under equal terms'.</p><p>So, they merely decided to let Xion and Naminé fight each other, determining that the winner would be the most beneficial pawn in their game.</p><p>This revelation angers Naminé, but what angers her <em>more</em> than their view of Xion is their view of <em>Roxas</em>.</p><p>Xemnas turns to Axel, "The onus is on you to capture and bring back both Xion and Roxas. The puppet's escape was on your watch, and you were the one assigned to keep a close watch on our prisoner, and yet you did not report any clues that she would run."</p><p>Roxas is...their prisoner?! Since when?! Why?! What did he do?!</p><p>Xemnas continues, "Try to avoid harming Roxas, but I will overlook any nicks or scratches concerning Xion. Just ensure she still functions on arrival."</p><p>"Why would you allow a deserter back?" Xaldin asks. "We should simply eradicate them!"</p><p>"Neither is a 'deserter'," Saïx cut in. "One is just a flawed specimen that has wandered and the other is just a test subject."</p><p>Test subject? Naminé asks herself. Were they referring to Roxas and Sora? A Heartless and their Nobody coexisting side-by-side? Is that what they want to test?</p><p>"Are we clear, Axel? Dismissed," Xemnas orders before vacating his chair via a Corridor.</p><p>Everyone leaves one by one, and Naminé is the last to linger.</p><p>"Still here, Naminé?" Saïx turns to her. "Proceed with your mission."</p><p>"Xion is not a puppet," Naminé replies, before her fists clench tighter, "and Roxas...is not our prisoner!!"</p><p>"Neither a puppet nor a prisoner could ever be part of the Organization," Saïx's response chills her to the bone. "Just count the seats here. We have and always will be <em>thirteen</em>."</p><p>After this meeting, she immediately seeks out Axel, finding him opening a Corridor.</p><p>"Axel!" Her first friend turns to her. "I think it's best if Xion and Roxas never come back to the Organization," she says with a heavy heart. "Do you really have to do what Xemnas says?"</p><p>"If I don't, they'll eradicate me next," Axel replies.</p><p>She closes her eyes and sighs, trying to accept all of this. "In that case...can you at least try not to harm them?"</p><p>"Roxas? I'm not allowed to," Axel says, and she feels a little better. "But Xion? That's up to her." Naminé gives him a surprised look, and he continues, "Xion is dangerous."</p><p>"Dangerous?"</p><p>"Have you got all your strength back?" Axel asks.</p><p>"Not yet..." she mutters, understanding the point Axel's trying to make. Axel looks away again, and she continues, "How long have you known about them? Could it be...that you've known about both of them for a long time, and not told me anything?"</p><p>Axel remains silent as he enters the Corridor without another word.</p><p>Naminé lays in her bed that night, wide awake, still thinking about the truth that's been kept from her. And now that she's thought about it, it all makes more sense than it did before. It explains a lot.</p><p>Why she and Xion were usually placed on the same mission, despite completing Kingdom Hearts being more efficient if they were <em>separate</em>. Why both Roxas and Axel always stopped her and Xion from fighting each other. Why Xion was getting stronger while Naminé got weaker, Xion being the one siphoning her power from her. Why the two always felt the urge to fight whenever one turned their Keyblade on the other.</p><p>She doesn't know how they all figured it out while she didn't, but Roxas, Xion, and Axel all knew this (and Axel's knowing glance at Xion the other day also makes a lot more sense) and kept this from her.</p><p>She then sits up, remembering Axel's mission. He must be back by now. She needs answers.</p><p>If he's hiding things from her about Xion and Roxas, what could he be hiding about her?</p><p>She finds him in the Grey Area again. She gently calls out to him, no anger anywhere in any of her features. He gently greets her, despite not turning to face her.</p><p>The two stand still for a moment, before Naminé asks him if he found Xion or Roxas yet. Axel replies that it's not gonna be that easy. She can't deny that he has a point, but she still wants some answers.</p><p>"Have you known...about them this whole time?" she asks him.</p><p>"No, not the whole time," Axel answers.</p><p>"Since when then?" she asks.</p><p>"Roxas? The same time as you," Axel explains. "He appeared normal at first, and I thought the whole thing with Sora was a little weird, but I really had no idea Xemnas planned on making them test subjects."</p><p>"Right. And Xion?"</p><p>"Xion? Uhhh...I can't exactly remember when that was," Axel replies.</p><p>"Didn't get it memorized, huh?" She tries to force a smile but it fades as quickly as it comes. She sighed, "Axel...who am I, really?" Axel said nothing. "I'm special, like Xion and Roxas, but for a completely different reason. I know that. But then the Organization's plans failed, so they decided that they wanted me out of the picture. Am I right?" He confirms this, being straight forward for once. So, she continues, "I guess it's because Xion copied my powers, and the Keyblade's powers, and they didn't need me anymore. Axel...did you feel the same way?"</p><p>"Absolutely not," Axel immediately replied. "You'll always be...my best friend."</p><p>"Best friends are supposed to be <em>honest</em> with each other!" Naminé shoots back. "Who am I, Axel? Xemnas says me and Xion are connected to each other through Kairi. I don't even know a Kairi! Am I a puppet like Xion? Or a prisoner like Roxas? Who?"</p><p>"You're different, Naminé, from both of them," Axel says. "Like I said, you're the rare Nobody of a Princess of Heart."</p><p>"Then why d—!"</p><p>Axel cuts her off, "Finding out the truth doesn't always work out for the best."</p><p>"For others or for you?" she shoots back, a question that renders him speechless. She calmly continues, but her voice gets more energized as she goes on, "I have the right to know the truth, Axel. How did I even get here? Why am I so special? Where did I learn how to use the Keyblade? I hardly know I am! What is so wrong with wanting some answers?!"</p><p>"Naminé..." Axel mutters. Naminé rarely yells. She's always soft-spoken, kind-hearted, and a shrinking violet (not so much now, but still). She always has a kind word for her friends, always puts on a brave face, and she's the glue that holds their little quartet together.</p><p>So, if she's breaking down now, she must really be upset.</p><p>If only <em>Roxas</em> was here. He would know what to do, what to say. Naminé always seemed to trust and talk to Roxas more than she did anybody else. Axel understands why Xion and Roxas left, and he let them go because he agreed with them. But apparently, none of them foresaw Naminé's breakdown being <em>this</em> explosive.</p><p>"I need to know, Axel," Naminé repeats, her voice quieter now. "Please...who am I?"</p><p>"You've just gotta trust me, Naminé," Axel holds out his hand for her to take, pleading, desperate. Their quartet is already broken enough as it is, already being down by half. He can't let it be broken more.</p><p>But, to his horror, she takes a step back, making Axel's smile fall. "I don't. I can't."</p><p>Axel watches her turn around and walk away, muttering one last time, "Naminé..."</p><p>"Somebody knows where I came from," she replies, still walking away. "If I can't get answers here, I'll get them somewhere else." She stops. "That'll be the person...I trust."</p><p>She pauses for a moment before continuing to leave, mentally apologizing to Axel, to Roxas, to Xion, to everybody counting on her. She tried, but she has to find out about herself. There's no reason for her to be here anymore.</p><p>On her way out, she encounters Saix. He almost manages to kill her, but she surprisingly overpowers him, gaining a new Keyblade in the process.</p><p><em>Oathkeeper</em>, a pure-white Keyblade that she feels fits her perfectly.</p><p>But a couple days later, she encounters Xion again, who quickly turns on her for a reason she doesn't know, a reason that's only known to Xion.</p><p>This time, there's no Roxas to hold her back. There's no Axel to tell her to stop. There's only her and Xion, two friends now being forced to fight, exactly what the Organization wants.</p><p>Just like the Halloween Town mission, Naminé is mainly on the defensive, only fighting back in self-defense. It's a long and painful fight, but she wins by a stroke of pure luck.</p><p>She mentally celebrates before realizing that she just struck down her own best friend.</p><p>She rushes to a dying Xion and holds her in her arms, and she listens as Xion tells her the reason why she forced Naminé to fight her.</p><p>Xion knows that she is a threat to Naminé, Roxas, and Axel. She knows that both she and Naminé would die if the fight didn't happen. She knows that, due to her not being made of pure darkness, the X-Blade could never be forged through them, but she had to die anyways.</p><p>There is no future where the four of them can eat ice cream together. Xion knows that. Axel and Roxas know that. And now Naminé is being forced to accept that too.</p><p>Xion's dying wish is for her to free Kingdom Hearts. To not let Xemnas win.</p><p>Naminé promises that they will all have ice cream together again as Xion fades into shards of light (a sight that she finds strangely familiar, almost like deja vu).</p><p>In Xion's place is a thalassa seashell, like the ones she always used to collect, and her death gives Naminé a second Keyblade.</p><p><em>Oblivion</em>, a pure-black Keyblade that Naminé feels fits Xion perfectly.</p><p>The whole fight with Riku after that is nothing but a blur, his darkness too dark, too traumatizing for her to handle.</p><p>The fact that Xion's slipping from her memory only makes it worse.</p><hr/><p>Naminé returns to Kairi, her Other, after that week in DiZ's fake Twilight Town. Part of her wants to hate him for lying to her, for taking Roxas (who tried his best to help her avoid her fate by telling her the truth) away from her, but she slowly learns to let it go.</p><p>She feels more alone than ever, since as far as she knows, Kairi doesn't know she exists, and that jealousy she felt long ago still lingers.</p><p>At least, until Kairi's journey with Donald and Goofy starts back up.</p><p>Kairi's been asleep for the past year, her hair longer and her clothes not really fitting her anymore. She doesn't know what happened. She has no memory of anything after her fight with Ansem, but thoughts of Riku and Sora fill her mind once more, as Donald and Goofy are energized, after the trio see King Mickey (in a black coat) save them from some weird creatures in Twilight Town.</p><p>The King is still alive and out of the Realm of Darkness, and so Riku might be too. Kairi is even more energized after realizing that a strange prescence is within her heart, filled with memories of somebody named 'Sora'.</p><p>To Naminé, this is unintentional. She didn't mean to share her memories of Shadow Sora with Kairi, but she couldn't help it. She heard Yen Sid explain the concept of Nobodies, her train of thought went to Roxas, then to Sora, and it just happened.</p><p>But she learns not to let this bother her. Sora was apparently one of Kairi's two best friends, but he sacrificed himself to save her, an action that causes the redhead great pain and distress. This sharing of memories as well as Yen Sid's explanation (that when a Heartless is created, so is a Nobody) gives Kairi hope and the drive she needs to keep moving forward. Many times, Kairi is discouraged, but Naminé eventually allows herself to overcome her jealousy and turn it into empathy and encouragement.</p><p>Naminé's friends might be gone, but that doesn't mean that Kairi's friends have to be gone too. The blonde is far from selfish, and she can feel Kairi's emotions. The two have a lot more in common that she initially thought.</p><p>To Naminé's curious surprise, Kairi refuses the three fairies' choice to make her new outfit pink. She chooses purple, as she finds it way more energizing.</p><p>Kairi is unnerved that the Organization members she meets all call her 'Naminé' and a traitor. That's not her name, so why are they all calling her that? She tries to connect the dots, but she feels like she doesn't have all the necessary information to solve this puzzle. So she tries not to let it bother her, but something deep within her heart won't let it go.</p><p>Naminé stirs when the trio return to Twilight Town. Even if her week here was fake, it was real to her. Her and Olette entering the Struggle tournament together, Hayner giving her reasons to laugh, Pence exploring the Seven Wonders with her. <em>Those were real.</em></p><p>Meanwhile, Kairi writes a message in a bottle, and she places it in the ocean there. Donald and Goofy don't really understand Kairi's confidence that it will reach Sora, but Naminé does.</p><p>Kairi has a strong heart, unshakable and unwavering, probably the strongest in existance. And Naminé shares that heart.</p><p>The trio return to Hollow Bastion (or is it Radiant Garden?), and while there, they encounter King Mickey again (who's apologetically unable to help when Kairi asks him about Riku), followed by a giant army of Heartless.</p><p>In the midst of the battle, while Kairi's allies in the Restoration Committee fight off the Heartless, she encounters Axel. He warns her against playing into the Organization's hands, but he quickly runs when Saix appears, who tells her that the Organization has Sora. He's very vague in his answers as Kairi asks where he is and how they captured him.</p><p>But Naminé knows, and she tries to reassure Kairi that he's fine, that they won't hurt him because they need him alive.</p><p>She breathes a sigh of relief when Kairi calms down, before the redhead asks to see him. Saix know how important Sora is to Kairi, to the point where she humbles herself in front of the enemy.</p><p>That's why it's so insulting to her when Saix refuses.</p><p>And in this moment, both Kairi and Naminé are angry over the same thing.</p><p>"Are you angry?" Saix taunts her. "Do you hate me?"</p><p>"Don't screw with me!" Kairi shakes with rage, feeling that familiar twinge when she defeated Ansem.</p><p>"Then take that rage, and direct it at the Heartless," Saix snaps his finger summoning more Heartless. He looks toward the sky, "Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts. And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free...until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes, we can truly, finally exist."</p><p>Naminé immediately tells Kairi that this is a bad thing. She is glad that her Somebody quickly gets the message.</p><p>Saix leaves through a Corridor, letting Kairi, Donald, and Goofy handle the Heartless he leaves behind. Or rather, Donald and Goofy handle them.</p><p>Kairi immediately de-summons the Kingdom Key and resorts to using only magic, frantically wondering how she's going to defeat the Organization if she can't use the Keyblade. Fortunately, Donald and Goofy are understanding.</p><p>The trio is saved by Maleficent, surprisingly.</p><p>Eventually, a couple of clues from a mysterious ally point their way towards the Old Mansion in Twilight Town. There, they meet back up with King Mickey (but still no Riku, which pains Kairi, since she just wants to make sure he's okay), and together, the four of them manage to find a way into The World That Never Was.</p><p>Naminé stirs again after seeing Axel sacrifice himself to help them.</p><p>"Axel, what were you trying to do?" Kairi quietly asks.</p><p>"I wanted the three of us...me, Roxas, and Naminé...to all be together again," Axel admitts, with words that hit both Kairi and Naminé hard. "Those two were the only ones I liked...They made me feel...like I had a heart. It's kind of...funny...You make me feel...the same..." He then changed his tune. "But just because my friends are gone doesn't mean you have to be alone too. Now go!"</p><p>He holds up his hand and opens a Corridor, which would lead Kairi and her friends right to the Castle.</p><p>"Axel..." is all Kairi can utter, as she, Donald, and Goofy watch Axel fade completely away with the smallest flicker of flame. Kairi's chest feels so agonizingly tight for a reason she can't discern.</p><p>Naminé's sick of this. She's tired of people telling her that her only choice is to return to Kairi. She's tired of always being separated from Axel and Roxas. She just wants the three of them to be together again. The three had gone through enough pain. Hadn't they earned their right to self-determination by now? Why did them being Nobodies matter so much to other people?</p><p>But Roxas had been taken away from her. And now Axel was dead, gone for good. Despite all her best efforts.</p><p>Not to mention, the Hayner, Pence, and Olette she knew were just data versions—<em><strong>fakes</strong></em>—of the real trio.</p><p>All she wants is to live her own life with her friends and eat ice cream on the clock tower. Was that really so hard to give?</p><p>Seeing Axel's death gives her the necessary momentum to reawaken within Kairi's heart. This is her last chance to be a real person, to have a heart that was all her own. But something else took precedence.</p><p>Kairi's losing hope. She's beginning to doubt that she'll ever find Sora and Riku, that she'll reunite with her own friends. And her heart is strong, so it really is a testament to how broken she's become. How both Sora and Riku's respective sacrifices have wrecked her beyond repair.</p><p>Again, Naminé is not selfish, far from it actually. Despite her jealousy towards her Other, it's not strong enough to beat the feeling that Kairi doesn't deserve to be alone. Not after all she's been through.</p><p>She makes her move as Kairi, Donald, and Goofy enter the Dark City, reaching Memory's Skyscraper as it begins to rain down on them, lightning flashing through the sky. Naminé keeps his hood up as she summons two of her Samurai and silently orders them to keep Donald and Goofy busy.</p><p>Kairi doesn't notice the two Nobodies until Donald cries out her name. The redhead turns around to see the dup blocking her two companions in her tracks. She tries to run to them, to help them, but she stops when her vision becomes hazy.</p><p>She turns around in time to see Naminé, in her black coat, hooded, appear. Naminé immediately summons Oathkeeper. "A Keyblade?" Kairi asks.</p><p>Naminé rushes at Kairi, who blocks the attack with her Kingdom key that she just barely manages to summon. Naminé re-strengthens her stance. Both Keyblades struggle against each other, before the world between and around them flashes and turns white.</p><p>The brightness dims to reveal the two on Kairi's lavender-colored Station of Awakening. Naminé has summoned Oblivion as well, and she and Kairi charge at each other, and they immediately block each other's attacks.</p><p>"Wh-Who are you?" Kairi asks.</p><p>Naminé briefly wonders if Kairi's feeling the same anger that Naminé is. Since the two shared the same heart, she could feel the redhead's emotions. She wondered if the other way around is also possible.</p><p>(It is, she later finds out. Kairi can feel her emotions too if she concentrates hard enough.)</p><p>"Someone from the dark," Naminé replies.</p><p>Kairi knocks her back, but Naminé quickly catches herself. "You're not Riku, are you?"</p><p>Naminé remembers that name. Riku was the boy she fought against that fateful night. "Riku?...I defeated a Riku once." At least, until Riku revealed his strong inner darkness.</p><p>"You what?!" Naminé feels Kairi's anger rise.</p><p>"If you think I'm lying," Naminé answers, lowering into her battle stance, both Keyblades ready to attack, "then fight me. I'll show you."</p><p>She then runs at Kairi, scraping her two Keyblades on the ground with a screech, sending up spars. She attacks Kairi, but Kairi manages to dodge the strikes. Kairi blocks Oblivion with her Keyblade, and knocks it away. Oathkeeper strikes upward, but is also parried. Downward again, yet more blocking from Kairi. It really seemed like the two were equal in terms of skill.</p><p>Naminé jumps into the air, spinning, before landing on her feet. She jumps at Kairi, who leaps up to dodge. Kairi's hit by Oblivion and thrown up into the air. Naminé jumps up towards her, but Kairi flips upside down and blocks both Keyblades with her one, before letting herself drop to the floor. Naminé hovers above, before she notices the tiles on the floor of the Station.</p><p>The tiles that depict Riku, Sora, Donald, and Goofy.</p><p>Kairi's <em>friends</em>.</p><p>"Trust in your strength," Naminé tells her Other, even if Kairi doesn't know what she's talking about.</p><p>Because that's what she's trying to do. Again, Naminé's not selfish. Some would've taken their Other's weakness as their chance to take over. But not Naminé.</p><p>Kairi needs to keep going. She needs to find her friends. Naminé knows that both Sora and Riku are still alive, even if neither's appearance is familiar. If Kairi gives up hope, then her heart will break. Naminé can't let that happen. She shares this heart after all. The only way to bring Kairi's spirits back up to make her face certain death.</p><p>But she also doesn't want Kairi to suffer the same way she has for the past year. Kairi deserves better than that.</p><p>Kairi raises her Keyblade, ready to either block the next attack or make the next strike herself. Naminé lets herself fall to the floor and tries to strike Kairi with Oblivion. But Kairi jumps away and continues to dodge her attacks. Kairi deflects one more strike, opening the way for Naminé to pound continuously on Kairi's blocking Keyblade.</p><p>When Kairi seemingly slips and falls on one knee, Naminé forces herself not to hold back. She immediately knocks Kairi's Keyblade away from her. Kairi runs over to it, or tries to, but Naminé stops her by slamming Oathkeeper into the floor between Kairi and her Keyblade. The redhead automatically slides to a stop, as the blonde holds her at gunpoint by pointing Oblivion in her face.</p><p>Naminé pants heavily, catching her breath as she clearly sees Kairi against her anger and frustration. She can also feel Kairi's emotions as the redhead remembers Sora and Riku, how much they need her, and how she can't fall here of all places. Kairi then surprises Naminé by holding her hand out towards her Keyblade, and Oathkeeper in Naminé's hand disappears in a flash of light.</p><p>Naminé almost falls over from the sudden move, "W-What?!"</p><p>Oathkeeper flashes into Kairi's hands and she immediately proceeds to strike Naminé across the chest. The sudden pain combined with the pride Naminé feels in that moment is what makes her drop Oblivion, and both Keyblades vanish in a flash of light.</p><p>Naminé's hood falls off, and Kairi breaks her glare in concern as the blonde falls over.</p><p>"Just what I'd expect from the other me," Naminé says, before turning around so the two girls can see each other's face for the first time. "Now keep fighting, Kairi..."</p><p>As her world turns white, Kairi feels a tear fall down her cheek. In that moment, she discovers the missing piece of the puzzle she's been given during the past year.</p><p>"N-Naminé?" she asks.</p><p>Back in the Dark City, the two Samurai have been dispatched of by Donald and Goofy, and despite them trying to be cautious about their enemy, Kairi knows for sure that Naminé, her Nobody, is on her side. Always was and always will be.</p><p><em><strong>'Thank you, Naminé,'</strong> </em>she says in her head, her heart feeling lighter and more energized than it did when they first got here.</p><hr/><p>As Naminé, within Kairi's heart, leads her Other through the maze that is The Castle That Never Was, another former member of the Organization returns once he sees that Kairi and company have successfully infiltrated the castle.</p><p>Sora waits for Roxas in the former's room, like he has been for the past few of months. A few other Organization members have entered the room a few times, during which Sora always hides under the bed, using his ability to travel in and as the shadows undetected to his advantage. It always works. They're searching for him, he knows that, but they've never caught him.</p><p>Just then, a Corridor forms in the room, and Sora immediately hides under the bed on instinct. But who comes out is the exact person he's been waiting for.</p><p>Roxas is wearing his casual clothes underneath his classic black cloak. He takes his hood off, thought only slightly (revealing his face but concealing his hair from anybody who dares to enter now), and whispers, "Sora? It's me. I'm back."</p><p>Sora carefully peaks his out back out and he only regains his confidence to come out when Roxas warmly smiles at him.</p><p>The blonde kneels to the Heartless's level in order to talk to him, right before Sora jumps into his arms, "I promised I'd come back for you." Sora nods, not needing words to convey how happy he is to see his Nobody again. Roxas continues, "It's time to go, Sora. Your friends are here, and I have no doubt they'll be glad to see you again." Sora silently asks if they'll recognize him even if he's a Heartless. Roxas answers with, "They're your friends, Sora. Of course they will."</p><p>Roxas then suddenly flickers in and out of existance. Sora immediately wants to know what just happened, what's wrong with his other half.</p><p>"Sorry, Sora," Roxas replies when the flickering stops. "I'm running out of time. The two of us cannot exist side-by-side after all. That's why we have to hurry and get you back to your friends."</p><p>Though heavily saddened by this, Sora follows Roxas throughout the castle. Before they reached Twilight's View, Roxas stops and kneels in front of Sora again, this time fading in and out more rapidly.</p><p>"You'll find your friends right through that doorframe," Roxas points behind himself. "My time's almost up, Sora." Sora's ears lower in sorrow (like a cat's). He doesn't want to say goodbye to Roxas. Not yet. "It's not goodbye, Sora," the blonde gently smiles. "Remember, we're two halves of the same person. It's just that I can no longer retain my physical form." So, Roxas is not dying? "Nope. Not dying. Just going back to you. I'll always be with you, in here," he finished, pointing to Sora's chest.</p><p>Sora feels a bit of relief, but he's still sad to an extent. He loves Roxas. The two were like brothers. He knows that Roxas is his Nobody, an irreplacable piece of his heart. But deep down, he honestly doesn't understand why the two can't co-exist.</p><p>Roxas' final words before he completely fades away are, "Now, find your friends, Sora. They're waiting for you."</p><p>Sora takes a moment to properly mourn his loss, despite Roxas' earlier words, before he passes through the doorway to Twilight's View. The first thing he sees is Saix on a balcony above him, the scary man that was former friends with Axel and that Roxas doesn't really like all that much, due to his strict, often cold-hearted nature.</p><p>The second thing he notes is that Saix is talking to someone, on a level below them both.</p><p>"You've done well," the man says.</p><p>"Where's Sora?!" a familiar female voice demands, and Sora immediately realizes that she's talking about <em>him</em>. Is she one of his friends that Roxas was talking about?</p><p>"Who knows?" Saix asks. "He won't show his face to anybody. I expect he's long gone."</p><p>"I don't believe that!" the girl shoots back, and Sora can hear the smirk in her voice. "I believe you <em>do</em> know where he is!"</p><p>"Whatever you believe," Saix replies, "Organization XIII has no further use for you. Just look there." He points to the moon above them. "Our Kingdom Hearts. Thanks to you, we've collected countless hearts. Can you hear their euphoria? Now, all they need is more helping from the Keyblade bearer!" He then snaps his fingers and hundreds of Shadow Heartless emerge from the walls.</p><p>"We gotta fight!" a familiar sounded duck cries out.</p><p>"B-But—!" the girl stutters. "We can't let Kingdom Hearts be completed!"</p><p>Saix disappears through a Corridor, but he's quickly replaced with someone else that Sora feels appear behind him. He turns around to see a very tall man standing there, looking at him with piercing gold eyes among tanned skin and white bangs.</p><p>There's a bat-wing-shaped Keyblade in the man's hand, but he doesn't raise it and Sora doesn't run from it. It's different, but he sort of recognizes it.</p><p>Instead the man asks, "Now what's a lone little Shadow like you doing here instead of attacking with your friends?" Sora doesn't know how to say that he's different from other Shadows without speaking actual words (at least Roxas could understand him due to them being the same person), but the man seemed to understand him anyway (maybe because they're both beings of darkness), "Ah, I see. It's because you didn't become a Heartless through normal means. Your original persona never fell to darkness, did they?"</p><p>Sora shrugs, not really sure if that's true or not (he still can't remember), but he thinks of a Keyblade plunging into his chest for some reason.</p><p>It's this image, however, that the man seems to see, and surprisingly, he understands whose Heartless this is now. "Sora...? Is that really you?" And that's when Sora understands who <em>this man</em> is.</p><p>It's <em><strong>Riku</strong></em>...</p><p>And the girl fighting Heartless with Donald and Goofy below them is <em><strong>Kairi</strong></em>...</p><p>The three of them are all here, all together again.</p><p>Down below, Kairi is almost out of magic. She's refusing the use the Keyblade still, since she can't let Xemnas complete Kingdom Hearts. That's the main reason why, when a tall cloaked man with a Shadow in his arms jumps down and helps her with his own Keyblade, she doesn't really question his prescence until the Heartless are all gone.</p><p>She turns to him as he puts away his Keyblade, "Thank you, whoever you are." She pauses as she gets a close look at his Shadow companion (now on the ground) that he seems intent on protecting. "W-Wait...Sora...?" She looks back up at the man's hooded, concealed face. "Riku...? Is that really you two...?"</p><p>The other four are surprised that Kairi was able to easily, accurately determine who these two really are. That underneath their strange exteriors, she would see their true faces.</p><p>She closes the distance between her and Riku before pulling down his hood. She gasps when she sees the face that greets is not Riku's, but the one belonging to the man that she clawed to death a year prior.</p><p>"R-Riku...why do you have that face?" Donald asks, seeing Kairi's speechlessness. Sora doesn't say anything either.</p><p>"Sorry, Kairi, Sora," Riku quietly apologizes, "you guys have every right to react like this."</p><p>Kairi remembers how Riku was the one who opened the door in the Secret Place on that fateful night. Riku was the one who ushered in the darkness that separated the three of them and separated Kairi's heart from her body. Tears come to Kairi's eyes when she realizes that Riku considers his current look as the necessary hell he's been allotted for betraying his friends. </p><p>Riku quickly notes Kairi's tear-filled indigo eyes. "Don't cry, Kairi. I chose this."</p><p>She sniffs, before picking Sora up in a hug and grabbing Riku's hand, asking, "How long did you two intend to hide from me?" She tightening her hold on both boys, as the tears began spilling down her face, "I looked for you. I looked <em><strong>everywhere</strong></em> for you guys!"</p><p>She was finally breaking down from the pressure of being lonely for so long. Not of sorrow, but of <em>relief</em>. She doesn't care that the two boys were seeing her cry (a while ago, she would have). All she cares about the fact she had her family back again.</p><p>She feels Sora hug her back (albeit a little awkwardly) and Riku clench her hand in return, as the latter calmly advises, "Pull yourself together, Kairi. We still have to stop Xemnas."</p><p>"Why didn't you two let me know where you where?" she asks again.</p><p>"Sora was here the entire time," Riku replies, "but I didn't want anybody to find me, least of all you, Kairi."</p><p>"But that was you helpin' us, wasn't it?" Goofy asks. When Donald expresses his confusion, Goofy explains, "Those clues we kept finding. That musta been Riku."</p><p>"I was starting to worry you guys weren't ever gonna catch on," Riku replies. "You guys have never really been the brightest."</p><p>Kairi cuts off Donald's angry squawk by saying, "You could've at least let me know you were okay."</p><p>"I told you," Riku explains, "that I didn't want to be found. Not like this." He looks down at himself. "I couldn't. I fought with Ansem. With...Xehanort's Heartless—when it invaded my heart, and I won. But to use the power of darkness, I had to become Ansem myself."</p><p>"Does that mean...you can't change back?" Kairi asks, wiping away the tears from her eyes.</p><p>"This battle isn't over," Riku tells her. "Until it is, I still need the power of darkness on my side."</p><p>"Then, let's finish this!" Kairi says, before leading the group to the final battle.</p><hr/><p>The six heroes wake up after Ansem the Wise's machine exploded, all of them laying down on the ground. Ansem the Wise is nowhere in sight, Kingdom Hearts has taken on a darker look, almost looking infected, and a gigantic horde of Heartless is racing up the ramp toward the castle.</p><p>The first thing Kairi hears when she comes to is King Mickey's voice asking, "Is everyone okay?"</p><p>"Yeah," Kairi groans out. "What happened?"</p><p>"Ansem's device gave out," Mickey explains as they all got to their feet. "I guess it knocked us all out."</p><p>"Yeah..." Kairi mutters, before turning to Riku and Sora.</p><p>The first thing she sees is Riku's silver hair, the color he was born with (though he's also wearing a blindfold). The second thing she sees is Sora's classic spiky, brunette hair.</p><p>"Sora! Riku!" she calls out as the two get themselves up.</p><p>"I'm fine, Kairi, I promise," Sora replies. But he pauses when he realizes that, for the first time in a year, he just heard himself speak actual words. Instead of just thinking what he wanted to say and hoping people understood him. He looks up, meeting Kairi's eyes.</p><p>He's about to speak again, but he's instead cut off by a bear hug from Donald and Goofy, "SORA!!"</p><p>It knocks the wind out of him with an "Oof!" But he manages to grind out, "Nice to see you guys again too. Sorry for worrying you." He remembers that the last time they saw him was when he stabbed himself to set Kairi's heart free.</p><p>"Well, Ansem did say that anything could happen," Mickey remembers.</p><p>Kairi turns to Riku, "Riku, you gonna take that off?" Riku's confused, before he realizes that she's talking about the blindfold he's wearing. So he takes it off. She then asks, "So, what was that about?", still referring to the blindfold.</p><p>"His eyes couldn't lie," Mickey replies.</p><p>"Lie?" Sora repeats, before asking Riku, "And just who were you trying to fool? Huh? Huhhh?"</p><p>"Myself."</p><p>Riku's answer catches Sora off-guard, "Riku..." He shakes his head, "You idiot! Why did you try to do so much on your own?" He runs over to the other four, "You've got friends now, like us!"</p><p>After looking at each of them in turn, Riku smirks, "I guess you forgot, so I'll tell you why. It's 'cause I'm not a total sap like you, Sora."</p><p>"Say that again!"</p><p>Kairi summons the Kingdom Key and interrupts them with a giggle. Everything is back to normal. Sort of...</p><p>"What are you laughing at, Kai?" Sora asks, teasingly (and mentally grateful that he can tease her now).</p><p>"You two," Kairi replies, before sobering up, remembering that she felt a certain regret upon leaving Hollow Bastion that day, like she left something behind. She did. She left Sora behind. "I'm sorry I left you behind, Sora." She holds up the Keyblade. "I think this belongs to you."</p><p>"It's fine, Kairi," Sora replies, taking the Keyblade from her. "I was following you afterwards. But as a Heartless, you're very simple-minded and you can't really remember your time as a human. So I got sidetracked at one point early on, and I didn't find you again until now. I did find my Nobody though, and his heart was more familiar than yours, so I...decided to stay with him. That's how I ended up here."</p><p>Kairi is quiet as she processes that, "I'm glad that you were safe, at least." She'd never forgive herself if she had let anything happen to him.</p><p>Just then, to everyone's surprise, the Keyblade flashes out of Sora's hands and back into Kairi's.</p><p>"What just happened?" Donald asks.</p><p>Mickey answers with, "I guess the Keyblade now recognizes Kairi as its master, after realizing that her heart will always be faithful to the light."</p><p>"Don't worry, Sora," Riku cuts in. "There's only Xemnas left. After that, we can let you two fight over the Keyblade as long as you want."</p><p>Sora nods, agreeing, "Yeah, it's probably for the best anyways. Kairi's become a better fighter than me."</p><p>Kairi shrugs, teasing, "You sound surprised, Sora."</p><p>Sora's face turns red, and ignoring Donald and Goofy's chuckling, he stutters, "I-I'm not! I've seen you fight, Kairi. You're really good!"</p><p>Mickey interrupts them all, "Fight now, everyone! Talk later!"</p><p>"Right!"</p><hr/><p>Sora puts on a brave face as he's forced to sit on the sidelines. He's not the type of person to just watch while someone else does the all the work. But the others do have a point. With his skills lacking due to a lack of fighting for the past year, there's not much he can do right now except survive in order to ensure that <em>someone</em> can tell their story.</p><p>He wishes he had a Keyblade, or any sort of weapon, so he could help. To be honest, he's perfectly fine with Kairi weilding the Kingdom Key. He misses weilding it, yes, but he's not selfish. Any weapon will do for him (preferably a sword though, because that's what he's familiar with).</p><p>After defeating Xemnas (or so they thought), he gets to see Roxas again. This time, though, Sora promises Roxas to find a way they can co-exist. Roxas's response before he and Naminé fade away is a simple smile.</p><p>Sora finds it interesting (and a little sad) that his and Kairi's Nobodies are each a mix of the two of them, presumably due to their roles reversing in that moment. Naminé is Kairi's Nobody, a being of pure light, but she can wield a Keyblade like Sora could. Roxas is Sora's Nobody, a regular Nobody, but he had a strong affinity for the light as well as a creative side like Kairi.</p><p>Anyways, it quickly turns out that Xemnas is not gone, and the Nobody forces Kairi and Riku to stay behind to beat the crap out of him once and for all. This is when the Corridor that Roxas opened for them closes right behind Sora, before the brunette can even think of something to help.</p><p>So he's left behind on Destiny Islands with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. The four can only wait at this point. There are no enemies to defeat. It's as peaceful as can be. They're considering camping there overnight, since it's been that long.</p><p>But before they can make a fire to keep themselves warm, Sora finds a bottle floating in the water towards the shore, to them. When it hits the sand, he picks it up and sees the rolled up piece of paper inside. After uncorking the bottle, he unrolls the paper and just from reading the first line, he already knows that it's from Kairi, to him. He can practically hear her speaking the words to <em>him</em>.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>"Thinking of you, wherever you are. We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish. And who knows: Starting a new journey may not be so hard or maybe it has already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky—one sky, one destiny."</em> </strong>
</p><p>He doesn't realize this until later, but reading Kairi's letter is what allows her to open the Door to Light from the Realm of Darkness. Through their connection, he helps bring her and Riku home again.</p><p>(And he feels better knowing that he was able to help them after all.)</p><p>King Mickey lets the three rest for a while, but a few weeks later, he sends them a letter, asking for their help. He sends them to Yen Sid, who, after bequeathing Sora the Shooting Star Keyblade sends all three of them on a mission. They must unlock the keyholes of seven sleeping worlds. He also explains that it's a Mark of Mastery exam for all three of them, before putting the trio to sleep.</p><p>Sora (who appreciates the training this gives him) and Riku (who's worried about redeeming himself) succeed in their mission, and the two boys wake up without a hitch. Kairi, however, takes a while to wake up. They all wonder why until they literally feel her heart break, and darkness that shouldn't be there starts flooding in.</p><p>Lea (Axel's Somebody) manages to jump in and save her from Xehanort (who used his darkness to send her into a nightmare), but her heart is still broken.</p><p>Scared of losing their friend, Sora and Riku both jump at the chance to save her. Yen Sid explains that they have to go to sleep again, and dive directly into Kairi's heart this time, but neither of the boys hold any doubts. Kairi's in danger. They have to do <em>something</em>.</p><p>
  <em>She'll never be alone again.</em>
</p><p>The two decide to take two different paths. Riku will fight off the invading darkness (and along the way, he meets a girl named Xion who helps him), while Sora will repair the light, Kairi's light (and he fortunately has help from Naminé).</p><p>They succeed, waking up after Kairi this time. Yen Sid names Riku and Sora both Keyblade Masters, but not Kairi, due to being caught Xehanort's nightmare.</p><p>Despite putting on a brave face, it's obvious that Kairi takes this loss hard. Sora quickly realizes that it's because, once again, she's been left behind while Sora and Riku are far ahead of her. She disappears for a while (she's visiting the Dream Eaters), and Sora takes this chance to talk to Yen Sid.</p><p>Sora asks the old wizard why Kairi didn't pass the exam, and he mentally thanks Riku for backing up his concerns. This is when Yen Sid and Mickey both reveal that the exam was not really an exam. In reality, the mission's main purpose to give them the Power of Waking, the ability to wake up sleeping hearts.</p><p>In Jiminy's journal, they found that several hearts needed saving from their pain. Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Roxas, Naminé, and a sixth that Riku names later as Xion. Terra fell to darkness, Aqua's been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for the last decade, Ventus has been asleep for the last decade, Roxas and Naminé are Nobodies who have the ability to become their own people if saved the right way, while Xion is still a mystery (all they know is that she's in Kairi's heart).</p><p>It's imperitive that Kairi learn this Power too, and not just for Naminé and Xion. Sora and Kairi, actually, both have a connection with Ventus, and it's a rather complicated story.</p><p>Ventus's heart initially went to Sora for safety, and he stayed there until Roxas and Naminé were born, and he's the reason why the two are both blondes (though Roxas is more brunette than blonde). From that point, his heart went to Naminé, and when she returned to Kairi, so did Ventus' heart.</p><p>Yen Sid and Mickey also explain that they need seven Guardians of Light to combat Xehanort's thirteen Seekers of Darkness. That's why Yen Sid bequeathed Lea with a Keyblade as well. Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Mickey are Guardians of Light as well. So they already have five, but they need two more.</p><p>Riku volunteers to team up with Mickey in order to save Aqua (and Terra, if they can), while Yen Sid assigns Sora to help Lea train with his Keyblade. And when Kairi returns from her much-needed break, he assigns Donald and Goofy to assist Kairi in regaining her strength.</p><p>Training with Axel—or Lea now—in Merlin's Secret Forest is rather eventful, Sora can attest. There's never a dull moment with him. The two bond over their mutual connection to Roxas, as well as Ventus, surprisingly, and Sora promises Lea that they'll both be saved.</p><p>Sora and Kairi both abandon their respective training in order to help Riku save Aqua. And together, the three of them join Aqua in waking up Ventus. Now that they have all seven Guardians, they're in the endgame now. They still have hearts to save, but defeating Xehanort is top priority.</p><p>However, the first time through doesn't end well at all. It ends with them all being swept away by a Demon Tide. To be honest, it's all a blur to Sora. He can only remember darkness and the fact that Kairi seemed to be the last one standing.</p><p>But the Guardians are given a second chance, and this time around, all the Keyblades of the past help them defeat the Demon Tide. Xehanort then shows up, does his classic villain babble, before creating a maze and splitting everyone up.</p><p>It's in this maze that Terra and Xion manage to be saved, and Roxas and Naminé gain replica bodies. This is mostly thanks to an unseen force, because every time they face one of the four, no one else is given a chance to save them. It's always something, or somebody, that they can't see.</p><p>All throughout the maze fight, the Guardians all have one lingering feeling that won't go away. They feel like they're missing one of their own, and they're only more confused by the guardian angel that keeps helping them.</p><p>They finally realize that these two mysteries are tied together, one and the same, when the ghost of Kairi leads them to where old fart Xehanort is hiding. Well, hiding is misleading here.</p><p>He's frozen in time, and so is Kairi, the two of them clearly having gotten in a fight, since they both have their Keyblades out, and Kairi has been knocked back into the air.</p><p>Kairi was indeed the last one standing the first time, and she went directly after Xehanort. After realizing that she was the only Guardian left, Kairi used her light, combined with her Power of Waking, to stop time and then rewind it, while keeping her and Xehanort in a time bubble.</p><p>She's the one who gave the other Guardians that second chance. She's the one who's been helping them, having been jumping from heart to heart, and then using the Power of Waking (even more) in order to help save Terra and Xion, and give Roxas and Naminé their own vessels.</p><p>It's ghost Kairi who explains this to them, and she gives no one a chance to speak when she speaks her final words to them and rejoining with her body.</p><p>"Don't waste this chance," she tells them, referring to her manipulation of time, "because I'm afraid I can only do this <em>once</em>."</p><p>The moment Kairi's spirit rejoins with her frozen body, the time bubble bursts, and Kairi is sent crashing to the ground. In this moment, the Guardians can all feel Kairi's heart shattering, due to her overuse of the Power of Waking (and Yen Sid much later explains to them).</p><p>Kairi's gone, but Sora refuses to let her go.</p><p>He doesn't hold back when fighting against Xehanort. No one does. He uses his and Kairi's Keyblades in tandem, angry and frustrated that, once again, Kairi was left all alone.</p><p>It's a long and arduous fight, because the old man refuses to give up so easily, but they win. Xehanort's gone, and the worlds are safe.</p><p>But what should be a victory, isn't. <em>It doesn't feel like one.</em> Kairi's sacrifice is still fresh in their minds, and it stays that way for the entire next year.</p><p>They don't bother to mourn her death, because she's not. They all feel a shard of her heart within their own. Her light is still shining, and her heart is still beating. <em>She's still alive.</em></p><p>Naminé and Xion let Roxas search their memories for clues, Lea and (a newly formed) Isa look for clues in Radiant Garden (Kairi's homeworld), Donald and Goofy search all the various worlds she's been to, while Terra, Aqua, and Ventus search the Realm of Darkness together in order to cover all bases. Riku's off on his own journey, and Sora...</p><p>Sora's fast asleep, letting Ansem the Wise search his heart for clues and study the fragment of Kairi that rests within it. He kept her safe once, and he didn't realize that until much later. This time, he already knows, and he needs to know what he can do to help bring her back.</p><p>He <em><strong>will</strong></em> save her, no matter what it takes.</p><hr/><p>Kairi doesn't know where she is. She's in a big city (not unlike that San Fransokyo world she visited once), and she can feel a couple pairs of eyes watching her every move. One of those eyes belongs to the girl in front of her.</p><p>She doesn't know who this girl is. Well, she knows her name: it's Kagami, and she learned it from the Verum Regina trailer (or 'True Queen') she saw in The ToyBox world. But she doesn't know anything else about her.</p><p>Kairi's been wandering the Final World for about year now (but it feels much longer), hoping that the others find a way to revive her soon. Due to her various fragments in their hearts, she can observe them and feel their emotions, but never interact with them. They can't even see or hear her, and due to her fractured heart, she can only watch them for a short period of time. She can't stay, but if she could, she'd be with them all the time and never here (she found this place beautiful at first, but she's stuck here, and it's gotten less and less nice over time).</p><p>Anyways, as she heals from her many, short trips to her friends, she chats to the stars—the hearts of people passed away—and Chirithy. She's discovered many things about them, and she considers them friends as well. She knows that Chirithy and one of the stars (a boy) are both waiting for a friend to arrive.</p><p>It was a year before she met Kagami. It was nighttime and Kairi had just returned from visiting Riku (in Radiant Garden, with Leon, Cid, Yuffie, and Aerith), wondering how she never knew that Sora was asleep, searching for clues about <em>her</em>, until now. Wishing she could visit Sora in his dreams (she couldn't; she could only visit her friends while they were awake), she got to her feet, ready to talk to some of the stars.</p><p>That's when she met Kagami. After Kairi recognized her from Verum Regina (and is still in shock that Kagami is a real person), Kagami revealed that she already knew who Kairi was and claimed that she was tasked to "save" her before explaining that her current appearance is not her true one, but she suddenly questioned whether Kairi was really Kairi at all.</p><p>Now here they were, in the city on top of a building with the number 104, and a fearsome battle ensues.</p><p>It's the most difficult fight Kairi's ever been in. This is because Kagami has an ability that allows her to copy some (if not all) of Kairi's abilities, including Keyblades that she equips. But, by some magical stroke of luck, Kairi wins.</p><p>Kairi watches as Kagami fades away into light, commenting, "I guess it's not my time just yet." Kairi also fades away and soon finds herself back in the Final World (still nighttime).</p><p>
  <em>Was that all just a dream? Or was it real?</em>
</p><p>Kairi sighs.</p><p>None of this makes any sense to her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The Roxas/Naminé roleswap was necessary, yes. Not just because Heartless Sora needed to be in the story somewhere and I couldn't find any other place to have Roxas meet Sora, but also because the Keyblade had to go to Naminé. The changes with Xion also influenced this, her role in this AU being adopted from Repliku's (and the idea came from DarkMageXIII on Fanfiction.net). Also, the Sora/Roxas scenes were inspired by one of Tumblr user Zillychu's ideas.</p><p>Kagami is the Nameless Star, and her name means 'mirror', which I thought was appropriate. I gave her a name in this AU, because she's roleswapped with Yozora. Also, I had Kairi win, because the canon ending to the Sora VS. Yozora fight is Sora winning.</p><p>Review, please. Tell me what you guys think. If you also have any roleswap ideas you want me to explore, or even if you can see a potential Part 2 to this one (because I can't; maybe when Melody of Memory and KH4 comes out), send me a review or a PM and let me know.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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